Dog-free road riding locations?

[DeniseGoldberg]

Emily -
I guess I've been pretty lucky so far on the dog front. Usually I have no dog interactions when I ride around home - generally north of Boston, the New Hampshire coast, and southern Maine. Of course now that I say that I'll probably have a dog after me on my very next ride!

The only time (so far) that I fell because of a dog is actually pretty funny. The dog was a large friendly breed, and I think he (or she!) must have been some kind of herding dog. As I got closer to him, he started heading toward my bike. So I stopped and stood up. Like I said, this dog appeared to be friendly, not attacking. I told him to go home, then I started riding again. He headed toward me again - but it was as if he was herding me to the side of the road. I had to stop or I was going to hit him, and I really didn't want to do that. I guess I just wasn't moving my feet fast enough because I ended up on the ground before I got my foot free of the pedals. It was a slow speed fall over as opposed to a real crash. It definitely wasn't the kind of situation that caused your crash.

Neil Gunton - the mastermind behind crazyguyonabike.com wrote and article that you might find interesting about dogs & cycling. It's at DealingWithDogs.crazyguyonabike.com.

--- Denise

[emily_in_nc]

Neil Gunton - the mastermind behind crazyguyonabike.com wrote and article that you might find interesting about dogs & cycling. It's at DealingWithDogs.crazyguyonabike.com.
--- Denise

Thanks for the link, Denise. I read the article. Unfortunately, both my husband and I having HALT did nothing to prevent my accident. The dogs came too fast and were too close to the road to begin with so that we couldn't act fast enough - and my HALT was mounted right on my handlebars, that's how fast they were!

The only time I have ever gotten off my bike and put my bike between me and a dog, I had to use it to fight him off with the bike; thank goodness the owners ran out and grabbed him, or I might have been injured. He was a really mean one!

Normally we just try to sprint as fast as possible, use Halt if they get close enough (and it does work if you can get it out in time), but this time, all our normal methods failed us.

For the future, I ordered a super loud air horn (Nashbar sells these), recommended by a friend who cycles in Texas. She says it startles dogs and they tend to stop in their tracks. I hope so. But even with that and Halt, I know I am going to be scared to hit the road again. I just hope I can overcome that fear.

Emily

P.S. Don't get me wrong; I love dogs under normal conditions and have one myself. I just don't like loose ones when I ride.

[cruziegirl]

Gads, how awful that you were injured that severely because of a dog owner's irresponsibility! I live in the Santa Cruz Mountains in California and generally have very few dog incidents. However, the time my sister and I went down to Hollister/San Juan Bautista for a ride it was like every damn dog in the place was gunning for us. I think we must have had about 8 nasty dogs that went for us in the course of 20 measly miles! I love dogs (I've had labrador retrievers forever) but the sad truth is that many people just don't think they need to contain their dogs. And out in rural areas having a mean dog is like some weird badge of honor. I think the air horn idea sounds great but it does mean having to grab for something, find the trigger and blast it off...none of which is easy when some big, mean dog is flying at you like a missile. Even when it's a small, mean dog...those little terrier things can give you a heart attack! All I can ever think of to do is pedal faster and I know that won't always work.

[emily_in_nc]

I think the air horn idea sounds great but it does mean having to grab for something, find the trigger and blast it off...none of which is easy when some big, mean dog is flying at you like a missile.

Fortunately, the horn trigger will be mounted on my handlebar, and all you have to do is press it! (The bottle part with the air is mounted in a water bottle cage.) So it should be VERY easy to use, easier than Halt, I'll just have to remember to pump up the bottle part with a pump now and then (it runs on air just like a tire, but says you can get many blasts with one pump up).

Thanks for all the well wishes. We just had another cyclist in our club crash badly yesterday, breaking a hip and femur, so I am really jumpy today. His crash was not caused by dogs or a motor vehicle - sounds like it was a paceline collision, but still...it does make me even more frightened to get out there again. I have totally lost the cloak of invulnerability I used to wear while riding, and now I just see danger everywhere. I am hoping that will fade in time, but it's just too early to tell.

I've been thinking more about getting into mountain biking. I'm a complete novice to that; just got my first entry-level mtb this winter for riding gravel roads and trails around our neighborhood, but I might have to get more involved with that. Even though I LOVE riding the roads and doing club rides, and even though I know that crashes certainly happen on the trails, it just feels safer to me right now since there are no vehicles and normally no chasing dogs in the woods.

Emily

[spazzdog]

Another use for that rifle rack we've talked about in other threads...

No, I love dogs and haven't met one on or off the bike that wasn't willing to back down... I can be a "teeny" bit scary. Plus I'm very "Alpha" with dogs (unlike my sweet demure character at other times).

The advice given here is always top-rate. HALT, airhorns, you'll learn which works best... mostly you'll do fine as you get you confidence back. Sometimes a quick call to the police (after you outrun the pups) to report the dogs does the trick. And call them every time you go by the place if the dogs are loose, whether you are on a bike or in a car or on foot.

Looking forward to future ride reports from you Emily!

spazz

[bikerchick68]

I can be a "teeny" bit scary. Plus I'm very "Alpha" with dogs (unlike my sweet demure character at other times).
spazz

LOL... yep that's me too! no one has EVER described me as the passive type... think it's a compliment? Sure hope so...

emily it stinks that your friend crashed too, adding to your angst. I hear of accidents as well, and have heard that most people have an accident about every 5 yrs... ??? Crap, I'm 3 yrs in... sigh... statistics stink! I'd say get out there and just take it easy for a while... I ALWAYS carry pepper spray and if I see a dog anywhere that is unleashed, whether they appear friendly or not, the spary is out and ready to go... even a friendly dog that runs into a bike doing 18mph will cause you to go down unless you're a really good bike handler...

[nuthatch]

Emily, I think it's a great idea to approach cycling from a completely different angle to ease yourself back into it. Hang up your road bike for a bit and ride rails-to-trails or mtn bike tracks (carefully!!) to give your heart a lift without all the worry (any black bears in your area?? ). I know EXACTLY how it feels to have that awful cloud of worry hanging over something you love so much - it spoils everything!!!

P.S. I don't think there's a dog-free rural road anywhere in the US. Two jack russells made for me the other day and I left my ride partners behind in the most cowardly display of speed!!

[Pedal Wench]

How timely...

My riding history has been in urban Miami, with absolutely no dogs on our usual ride out to Key Biscayne. Up in Atlanta, my rides alternated between a large park with a leash law, a rail-trail with a leash law, and my own neighborhood loop, with a leash law. There's a century ride out in rural Georgia/Alabama that I did once that had a LOT of dogs, and I was terrified. The same ride is this weekend, and after your story, I was even more terrified. Someone rode the course last weekend to re-blaze the route, and he reported that there were more dogs than ever. Great....

(note: another dog-lover here - one 120 lb mutt, and my recently deceased sweet, gentle Mastiff - she only weighed 170, and couldn't run fast enough to chase her own tail - and too stupid to try)